Z Is For ZZZZZZ

Since my husband is gone for great lengths of time, he and I make it a point to get away for a night or two when he his home.  Tomorrow is the beginning of one of our mini vacations.  I'm so looking forward to getting away, to exploring and shopping and dining in fine restaurants, to hiking and maybe bowling and for sure stopping at any garage sale we see.

But most of all, I'm looking forward to catching up on my sleep!  I stay up too late, I'm up too early.  The next few days will see me sleeping when I feel like.  I can hardly wait!

Y Is For Yes

My daughter and I love going to Costco.  We savor our trips up and down the wide aisles.  We love saying funny things like, "Let's buy this tub of sour cream," and then laughing because there is no way we could used even a quarter of that tub before it goes from sour to spoiled.  That might only be funny to us!

The best part though, is the free samples.  We all know it.  We all eagerly converge on the food tables at the end of the aisles, checking out whether it looks good enough to try.  Today she tried the gluten free cookie, and I did not.  She said I choose correctly: it left a weird taste in her mouth.  We both skipped the gluten free granola and some kind of healthy nutrition bar.  But then we saw it.

Mini Tacos.

There was one left.  My daughter asked me if she should try it and I said yes.  As she reached for it, the lady put one more out.  Mine!   We stood in the aisle, sort of blocking people, while we tasted a little bit of heaven.  She said she could eat mini tacos every day.  I said we needed a box.

We texted Dad at home to preheat the oven, we were bringing dinner home.   Turns out, mini tacos are even better when heated in the oven!  Oh so delicious!

We almost always say yes to one sample we try.  This one just might be the best of the best.

X Is for iXnay and Amscray

Let's ixnay and amscray

And find a quiet spot

A cozy just for two nook

Were we can sit and smile

Talking not required!

W Is For Where Has April Gone?

Where has April gone?  It feels like I just started the A to Z challenge, and yet here I am, at W, almost the last letter.  This month has flown by!

I've ticked things off my to do list, gotten a bit more organized, walked to work almost every day, found a yogurt I love so much I savor it as my daily treat, tried several new recipes for dinner, listened to more of my record collection, argued and won my daughter's right to re-take a vocab quiz, had lunches with friends,  enjoyed my 'date' with my Mom, just her and me, and all around tried my best to savor each day, rain or shine, knowing this moment, this day in April 2014 isn't coming around again.  I better get to it!

V Is For Vintage

I am a vintage junky.  I live for the summer weekends when garage sales are abundant.  There is nothing I love more than digging through a box for a hidden vintage treasure.  I search thrift shop shelves, on the hunt for a quirky gem.

I love it so much, two years ago I took the leap and opened my own booth in our local vintage market.  The best part of my venture is it pays for my hobby!  I can shop to my hearts content, knowing that I'm spending my own money.

I wonder what sales are going on tomorrow?  I'm giddy with excitement to find out!

U Is For UGH!

This morning we woke up to discover we had no internet, no TV, no land line phone.  Nothing!  I may have uttered many groans of dismay.  I never realized how much we depended on those things to start our day.  Who knew what the weather held?  Or if anyone else had liked my Facebook status, or if I had holds in at the library or if this wasn't a storm related outage and more of an apocalypse situation.

We are finally back up and running and I can honestly say I will not be one of those parents who institutes a technology free week.  If I did that, I'd have to follow that rule. 

I really try not to make rules I can't follow!  

T Is For Tomato

My favorite sandwich is a BLT,  hold the T.  Which makes people laugh when I say it.  The thing is, I'm all about a good bacon and lettuce sandwich and those pesky tomatoes get in the way!

Love tomatoes in ketchup and spaghetti sauce and salsa.

Hate tomatoes on sandwiches, salads and bruschetta.

My Grandpa used to tell me I'd like them when I became a grown up.  Um, I'm going to be 40 this year.  I'm about as grown up as I'm going to get.  Still hate them!

S Is For Sorry

I have Stared at this blank page for ages, trying to come up with my S word for today.  I tried Student awards, because we just watched our daughter accept Advanced French Student of the Year and AP History Student of the year.  I tried Secret Service because our Small town was crawling with them today due to the President's visit.  I gave the idea of Salad or Snape or Snuggle ups or Staying Oso Strong a go, but Sadly, they all sat like unmotivated lumps with the first Sentence.  So I have given up.

Sorry!  Today is not a day of literary genius for me!

R Is For Rachel McAdams

My daughter and I have super crushes on Rachel McAdams.  She is so cute, so lovely, so funny, so talented, and thanks to Google I now know only four years younger than me.   I've liked her for years, but last summer my daughter and I watched "About Time" and loved it so much, we watched it again.  And then we went home and pre-ordered it so when it was released to DVD, we'd have our own copy.

We discussed the move at length, dissecting the plot, analyzing the themes, agreeing that my first grand daughter should be called Kit-Kat and white isn't the be all color for a wedding dress. We forced a boyfriend and a husband to watch what I am sure they both termed a "girl movie."  We wiped away tears and laughed at clever jokes and enjoyed the heck out of it every time we see it. 

But most of all we talked about a certain floral pant that Rachel wears.  The moment we saw her in those pants, we both sighed longingly.  Those pants were so perfect.  But we agreed they aren't perfect for everyone.  Who else, but the very darling Rachel McAdams could pull off floral pants?

Not me.  Not her.  But that didn't stop me from directing her attention to every single pair of flower patterned pants we saw as we have shopped.  We joke, "Only Rachel," as we leave them behind on the rack.

Until I saw a lovely pale blue pair of pants, with tiny dark blue flowers, and I sort of bullied my daughter into trying them on.  Later, when I wandered by her dressing room and asked how things were going, she said they were good, she was getting the pants.  I asked if I could see (we have an understanding since she reached a certain age that I don't need to see the clothes, I trust her judgement) but this time I was so excited to see her in these pants, I asked.  And she agreed.  And I was right: she looks lovely.

From that moment on, these pants are called The Rachel McAdams Pants.  

I may be living out my floral pants dreams vicariously through her!

Q Is For Quirk

A quirk of fate changed the path I walked
I stepped over the puddles and leaped the chasm
And kept going on in pursuit of my hopes
Later I looked back with whispered thanksgiving
For that unexpected detour put me right where I belonged.

P Is For Puppy

I've gotten to an age, a stage in life, that the urge to have another baby pales in comparison to the urge to have another puppy.

I have one husband and two kids and three dogs and I do not need another puppy.  I don't have the space or the time or even, honestly, the strength for four dogs.

Recently I had the puppy urge.  It passed, but not before I bought this:

When I am old, my house will be overrun with ceramic dogs.  My grandkids will be told not to touch, that isn't a toy, and when I finally kick it, my estate sale will be advertised as the sale for the avid dog lover.

I'm totally okay with that.

O Is For Only

Since our son moved out, our daughter has become an only child who is doted on by her parents.

I never thought I'd be that kind of parent.  But I guess it's just a reverse order of how it was when our son was our only child, before his sister joined us on our family adventure.  Back then, he did rule the roost, but in the more subtly way that babies have of taking over everything and making bed time at 8 seem like the most wonderful idea ever and a day not covered in someone else's excretions a day to celebrate in grand style (McDonalds)!

Now days, our daughter has been known to suggest dinner (pancakes, please?) and I say sure.  She picks the movies we see as a family (no sibling to argue that it's a 'girl' movie).  She sits in the middle of the back seat so she can talk to us easily as we drive places and no-one complains that she is invading his space.  And when she asks if she can spend all summer in France, we say yes.

It will be only me and the dogs for huge chunks of the summer, but I'm okay with that.  I am so excited for her!

N Is For Nary

N is for Nary
As in none
Not one
Idea
For
N!

M Is For Made It

Sometimes I don't walk to work just for fun.  Sometimes both cars are being used by other family members and as I live so close to work, I get the privilege of being the designated walker.

Today was one of those days.  The walk to work was good.  The walk home at lunch was okay.  The walk back to work after lunch was energizing.  The walk home from work was relaxing.

Literally, as I took the last step to be in our carport, under cover, I heard a weird noise.  I looked out, and yep.  Rain.  But I made the trip four times without getting wet!  That is cause for celebration.

L Is For LOL

I don't know what to wear today, I say while heaving sighs and making a pile of clothes on the bed.  I think that one gray sweater, the short sleeve one, but I can't find it.  If I can't find it, I don't have a back up outfit planned.  Disastrous.

So the mound on the bed gets higher and higher as I take everything out of the closet, searching, searching, searching, and there at last, at the back of the shelf, almost falling off, there is the elusive sweater.

I shake out the wrinkles (and any hidden spiders), put in on, look in the mirror.

Is this really what I've been searching for?

Is this really what I want to wear today?

I don't know!  But I'm out of time and about to be late for work, the time for change is gone!

L is for LOL because I wrote today's post for "I" actually.  Hours later I have remembered that was the wrong letter.  Oops! And serious LOL!!

K Is For Kin

K is for Kin

Of which I have a few

And today is a day of parties

Of which I have two

I will bake a cake

And wrap some presents

To give to my nephews

With many happy wishes

Then on to the in-laws

For a great turkey dinner

Who says Thanksgiving

Should only be in November?

A day full of Kin

Nothing could be better!

J Is For Jeff

Let me introduce to Jeff:

 Sketchy Jeff, to be exact.

 I have quite a collection of dogs; I don't usually name them.

 Nope, none of the other dogs have names.

But there was something about this weird little white dog that said, "I am Sketchy Jeff."

I bought him for 99 cents and I thought I'd put him in my vintage booth because I wasn't sure I liked him enough to keep. I put him on my shelf anyway, just to see how he fit in. At first I was a little skeeved out by how he stared at me as I watched TV. I don't know when it changed, but one day I looked at him and thought I like him. I like him a lot.

Sketchy Jeff is here to stay!

I Is For Idea

Years ago, I had the idea that adding one more dog to the mix was not going to be a big deal.  Our daughter asked and begged and promised to care for and save up the money for her very own puppy.

We became a three dog family.

Walking three dogs is a bit trickier.  Three dogs barking is a bit noisier.  The fur three dogs shed is a bit more everywhere.  But all of that was manageable and had been for the last 4 years.

It was the vomit that has got me down.

The third dog got sick all over the couch.  And the love seat.  And once on me.  Over and over and over during a recent evening.  I might have cried a little.  I might have said the couch was dead to me and had to be burned.  I might have cried a little more.

Then my husband had an idea.

The couches are alive to me again, thanks to professional upholstery cleaners!  Best idea ever.

H Is For Hard Headed

H is for hard headed
As in 'hard headed Swede'
Stubborn and contrary
Persistent and determined
If I say the sky is green
I will argue my statement
With unwavering, relentless dedication
Until I am green in the face.

G Is For Grapes

I like the red ones,
My daughter likes the green;
Last week I bought green for her
This week I bought red for me.

The green were better.
Don't tell my daughter that.

I'll never live it down!

F Is For Friday

I don't want to be the person that constantly lives for the day that today is not, but I am counting down the days until Friday.  My husband is coming home this week, after almost 40 days out at sea, and while the actual day has jumped back and forth from the 8th, 9th, or 10th, he will for sure be home this week; he will be home by Friday.

So I will get up on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and go about my grown up responsibilities: go to work, fold laundry, feed the kid and the dogs, pay bills, and grocery shop.  But Friday...

It's Friday I'm In Love.

E Is For Eek!

Biggish house spiders are the worst.  Well.  Not worse than bats flying through the living room or 16 inch rats living behind dishwashers, only one of which I've actually experienced.  Thankfully, just bats.  But biggish house spiders who suddenly appear right were you are, as if they are getting extreme chuckles out of the fright you have been given, those spiders are pretty close to the worst.

We have had a rash of sightings.  One when I was sweeping and lifted something off the floor only to throw it back down and jump and stomp when I realized I was pretty much holding a spider in my bare hand.  Then one crawled out from under the printer while my daughter was at the computer.  I had to come home to capture and release it because my brave, fearless, daughter was freaked out

The next day I found one in the bathtub.  I once again caught it and took it far from our house to let it go in the wild outdoors.

But now, actually, it has been in the bathroom for months, this plastic spider ring that has moved from three different spots all over the bathroom and hasn't scared me at all, well, now it startles me Every. Single. Time.

I guess I should move it, but there's nothing like fright to jump start you awake in the early morning hours.  Better than coffee!

Well, let's not get carried away.

D Is For Disguise

I may be going through the drive thru to pick up a breakfast treat for my daughter in my pajamas.  I may not have bothered to brush my hair.  Or my teeth.  Or wash my face.

But it's our spring break day, my one day this week that I don't work and we have a list of things we want to do, starting with a special breakfast.  By the time we decide we are hungry, we are starving.  I can't be bothered to take the time to fix myself up.

Instead,I employ my ready for the day disguise: I pull on a nice jacket, button it up to hid my pajama shirt, smooth my hair back into a messy bun and go.  From the car window, I look decent!  

Standing outside of the car, well, at least my daughter was the only one who saw me!

C Is For Carry On

When I was a kid, I could listen to country or Christian music, and nothing else outside those homey fenced in boundaries.  I happen to love country music, so that was never a hardship.  Even though my husband and I are the same age, many of the songs that 'take him back' are completely unknown to me.

To make matters worse, my daughter is a music fiend.  She has such a wide range of likes, she often knows what song my husband is talking about!

Thanks to Supernatural, and a song that played once in the show, my daughter introduced me to Kansas and that wonderful class song, "Carry on Wayward Son."

I love it.  I mean, LOVE love it!  Sometimes when I am walking around, looking like I'm pondering deep, meaningful things, I'm really just letting this song roll around in my head.  

I just wish I actually knew more of the words other than the first line!

B Is For Birthday Card

B is for Birthday Card

The one I didn't send

The one I keep forgetting

To my 9 year old nephew

Who doesn't need a phone call

Or happy birthday singing

But wants a piece of birthday mail

With every ounce of being

I should give up the hope

That I will ever be on time

And only buy Belated Birthday Wishes

Cuz that is how I roll

Every single year!

A Is For Arlington

A is for Arlington, and Oso and Darrington, my home town and community, small populations, where we know each other or know we have friends in common.  I never thought we'd make headlines, national news, international news...but we have.

It's been ten days since the first sirens echoed through town, signalling something bad had happened.  The Oso Mudslide that wiped out a neighborhood and a mile of State Route 530 has devastated us.  The number of missing shocked us, and as the days have passed with no signs of life, the loss of hope has dragged us down, but it hasn't stopped us.

We are a community of helpers, of volunteers, of givers, of sharers.  If the shirt we are wearing is needed, we gladly hand it to our neighbor.  Sadly, we are now proving this very thing.

People all over the country have donated, have rushed supplies to us, and every single gift, every single prayer, is much needed and so much more appreciated.  Thank you isn't enough, but it is heartfelt, and deeply meant.

Donations accepted at United Way of Snohomish County and Cascade Valley Hospital Disaster Fund.